Miniaturization of portable consumer products such as MP3 players, mobile phones, and digital camera is driving the need for smaller devices such as integrated circuits (IC) with high memory density and more functionality. As the size of the device becomes smaller, this however leads to higher production cost.
To reduce the fabrication cost, Multi-Projects-Wafer (MPW) is proposed as it offers the solution to integrate onto wafers a number of different designs modules which may also include intellectual property (IP) resources from various vendors or parties. Nevertheless, there could be risks where intellectual property (IP) resources from the various parties are exposed to third parties including competitors.
From the foregoing discussion, it is desirable to produce devices with low production cost and sufficient IP protection. It is also desirable to ensure IP protection during the delivery of the devices.